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Topic: Xbox 360 (Read 33332 times)

I didn't see a discussion on it, but Microsoft previewed their upcoming system, the X Box 360 this week. You can read a little about it on this MSNBC article HERE. I personally haven't ever owned the original Xbox, but have been fairly impressed when playing a friend's. It sounds like this new version could be pretty spiffy as well. Is the Playstation 3 expected to be released this year as well? I haven't heard much about that for a little while. Right now, I have a Nintendo Gamecube...which I have been quite happy with, but I don't know if I could justify putting the money down for another new gaming system this time around. Of course, it always gets a lot more tempting once you see them in stores or play them somewhere . From what I have read, this new XBox is expected to retail for around $300 initially, but that could be wrong.

Anyway, new consoles are coming too fast... The Nintendo one's at least gonna be backwards compat, but I'll still WANT the new X-Box one... Then again it says it's making gameplay a multi-player focused thing, which isn't good IMO. Ditching AI and story for MP gaming is taking away an adult focus since (and this is just my personal experience) a lot of the folks online gaming against each other tend to be arrogant kids.

There's adults trying to mix in there, but they're much fewer in numbers.

I hope it's not a negative to SP gaming I guess... To me, that's what gaming is all about, having a satisfying experience with a good game/storyline you can immerse yourself in. Things like KOTOR, or Jedi Knight... Those were games you got lost in when you played.

November 2006 is the estimated release date, same with the Nintendo Revolution.

One thing I like about the 360 (Xenon would have been a better name...) is that the controllers will be wireless. That's cool, IMO. I've heard rumors about backwards compatibility, but they haven't been confirmed yet. They better be true.

Me, I'll be waiting for the price to decrease, just as I'm doing with the new handheld systems.

I think MS is pushing pretty hard to make the Xbox360 backward compatible from what I've read. They seem to talk a lot about playing Halo on the new system so I'm figuring they will either have the rumored Halo 2.5 ready with the systems release or have it backward compatible, or maybe both. In any event I've been a video game nut since Pong and the Atari 2600 days. There's no way I'll be missing this one on release day.

Agreed, Andy. Something about the Mac PowerPC architecture just leaves me uninspired. And the focus of their gaming... 100% on-line... that's just not the type of gaming I'm interested in at all. Sure, it's fun to play a FPS from time to time, but I much prefer traditional RPGs and puzzle/platformers, where I'm not penalized if I don't spend 12 hours a day on the thing.

the focus of their gaming... 100% on-line... that's just not the type of gaming I'm interested in at all.

That's currently my feelings, Bill.

And I'd go so far as to say that even FPS games are more appealing to me as SP games, not MP. The MP gaming experience, in my view, has been a letdown and something I lose interest in quickly. I prefer RPG's, FPS SP missions (I'm tearing through Doom 3 which has a surprisingly deep story, if not one we've seen before), and military strategy gaming...

Sims are a close second (1up.com had Rogue Squad and TIE/X-WIng in the same category recently, and even somehow had their heads up their asses enough to think X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter was somehow BETTER than X-Wing, TIE Fighter, all their expansions, and X-WIng: Alliance which was 100x better as a SP and MP game than XvT, but I digress... Anyway, Rogue Squad and the XW series aren't the same game, but again I digress.), and to me Sims are only solid on PC...

But yeah, MP is fun for a little while but I'm sad to see that the new XB is heading that way almost all together. I'll wait to see how this system plays out I think... What the games are that are offered and such.